Dennaton Games has released the beta version of Hotline Miami 2's much awaited level editor.

For all that it accomplished in terms of style, Hotline Miami is still very much a series that lives and dies by its gameplay. Hard, fast, brutal and addictive, it's one of those franchises that will leave you begging for more as you rip your hair out. Hoping to give its fans an infinite amount of that more, its developers at Dennaton Games had promised to build a level editor that players could use to create their expansions for Hotline Miami 2. Today, said level editor finally launched in its beta form and it's already looking impressive as heck.

Detailed in tutorial blog posts, the new editor will give players all the tools they need to easily create their own levels using assets from the game. Using a tile-based system, players can construct levels that include everything from cutscenes to multiple floors and, of course, loads of enemies and weapons. The only catch is that the beta version currently doesn't have access to Steam Workshop support which means that fans interested in sharing their creations will need to manually send each other the actual files for their finished levels. Steam Workshop will most likely be integrated when the full release version of the level editor launches in January 2016. That being the case, Dennaton made sure to warn players that the levels they make now might not be compatible for Workshop sharing when the full release finally does come out.

There are some other disappointments as well. While the level editor is planned for release on Mac and Linux platforms, Dennaton currently has no plans to create a version for the PS4 and Vita editions of the game. I can't say this was really a surprise, but it's still a bit of a bummer for gamers like myself who prefer the console versions of the Hotline Miami games. Setting that aside, this release is still excellent news for franchise fans. While I personally had some issues with Hotline Miami 2, I still enjoyed it and love the series overall. The prospect of being able to play through a potentially infinite number of player-made levels is, in turn, something that makes me very happy.

If you're interested in trying out the level editor yourself, the current version can be accessed by locating and enabling the beta on Steam. For more detailed instructions, take a look at Dennaton's blog post here.